Spokesman says Burton died at his home Tuesday morning

Ray Burton, New Hampshire's longest-serving member of the Executive Council and tireless advocate for the North Country who kept a rigorous travel schedule in the sprawling district, has died at age 74.

His spokesman, B.J. Perry, said Burton, who was suffering from kidney cancer, died shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday at his home in Bath. He was surrounded by friends.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Executive Councilor Raymond S. Burton," he said in a statement, adding, "he leaves behind family and friends as well a legacy of public service that has impacted so many in the Granite State."

Burton, who in February said he was undergoing treatment for the cancer, acknowledged on Oct. 26 that he wouldn't be seeking another term in office.

Several hundred people paid tribute to him in a ceremony at Bretton Woods on Nov. 1. Burton rode from the Mount Washington Hotel to the ceremony in his "parade car," a 1975 yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88, with Gov. Maggie Hassan.

Earlier this year, Burton focused on helping people from his home and connected to the council meetings in Concord electronically. He assured constituents, "Ray Burton will back to 100 percent before you know it, passing out business cards and combs! I am forever humbly at your service."

A Republican, Burton was first elected to the council in 1977. Aside from a brief time in 1980, he's been re-elected every two years since then. The five-member council approves state contracts and nominations.

He has received numerous awards for his dedication to North Country causes. A bridge in Bath and a Southern New Hampshire Services' building in North Woodstock have been named in his honor. He served on many boards and organizations involving education, the arts, business economic development, and conservation. If a bridge or road project developed in the north, chances are he helped make it happen.

Burton's popularity was strong enough to survive calls for his resignation in 2005, after it was discovered his top aide was a convicted child sex offender with a lengthy record. He defied pressure to step down from officials as high up as then-Gov. John Lynch and the state's congressional delegation, saying there was still too much work to be done in his district.

"I was trying to help somebody who needed some help and I got burned by it," Burton said.

Many people came to his defense. "If we lose Ray Burton, we will become the portion of New Hampshire that time has forgotten," former state Rep. Brien Ward of Littleton said at the time. Burton won re-election.

Born in Burlington, Vt., Burton graduated from Plymouth State College and worked as a teaching principal in the Andover and Warren school districts. He served as Sergeant at Arms for the state House of Representatives and the state Senate from 1967-1968.

As a member of the Executive Council, it became common to see him through the years at numerous North Country functions. In 2006, he led a caravan of antique cars in his 1959 Cadillac Fleetwood up Interstate 93 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the interstate highway system.

"The ski industry, the outdoor recreation industry, exists today because of I-93 coming north and I-89 headed up toward Lebanon," he said, recalling the transformation. "It would be a sad place economically and socially if we were without the interstate."

293, SPAULDING NO HANGUPS. I'M SUZANNE ROANTREE. ALL RIGHT. NOW BACK TO THE BREAKING NEWS THAT WE ARE FOLLOWING THIS MORNING. NEW HAMPSHIRE POLITICAL ICON, RAY BURTON, HAS PASSED AWAY. SOURCES TELL US THAT BURTON DIED SHORTLY BEFORE 2:00 THIS MORNING AFTER A BATTLE WITH CANCER. HE WAS 74. LAST MONTH THEY ANNOUNCED HE WOULD BE RETIRING AT THE END OF THE TERM, SAYING THE CANCER HE HAD BATTLED WAS RETURNED. HE WAS HONORED THIS MONTH FOR HIS SERVICE TO THE STATE. NO FUNERAL SERVICES HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED. EXECUTIVE COUNSELOR, RAY BURTON, PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING AFTER A

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